


Sooner or Later

by littlefanthings



Series: Season 7 and Beyond: Missing Moments [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Deke says goodbye to Nana and Bobo, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scene, Post-Finale, Post-Season/Series 07, Post-Season/Series Finale, The Night of One Year Later, fitzsimmons family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:13:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25981159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlefanthings/pseuds/littlefanthings
Summary: Jemma remembers her last moments with Deke.“She’d started getting unusual headaches, they’d start with a dull ache in her temple which quickly ramped up to a brief sharp pain, almost like an ice cream headache, and suddenly she’d remember something from that short period of time she thought had been lost forever.There was no rhyme or reason to what she’d remember. Sometimes it would be something completely mundane, like walking down a hallway with Daisy and Deke on Sybil’s ship or simply resting her head on Deke’s shoulder while locked in their cell. She’d practically rolled on the floor with laughter when the memory of Deke imitating Fitz had emerged.”
Relationships: Deke Shaw & Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz & Deke Shaw, Leo Fitz & Deke Shaw & Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons, Skye | Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa (mentioned)
Series: Season 7 and Beyond: Missing Moments [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1886059
Comments: 11
Kudos: 97





	Sooner or Later

**Author's Note:**

> Just filling in the blanks on some moments there weren’t time for in the finale.

“She’s out like a light,” Fitz proclaimed, making his way down the last few steps and into her office. When they’d moved into the cottage, Jemma had chosen a small, airy room with lots of windows facing the front garden as her own. She loved all the natural light. During their last few years at S.H.I.E.L.D, Fitz had more than once caught her sneaking away from her work for a few minutes during the day to just stand by a window and enjoy the sunshine. She was loathe to admit it, but after her time on Maveth, she couldn’t quite fight the urge to occasionally check that the sun was really still there.

Jemma was sitting at her desk, laptop open, jotting a few notes down on a small pad of paper in front of her. She put down her pen and turned to face Fitz as he strode through the doorway.

“Really? She’s usually gotten up at least once to ask for water or another story by now,” Jemma said, pleasantly surprised. Despite having spent the majority of her life in another star system, Alya had already mastered the ancient Earth traditions upheld by all four year olds trying to avoid bedtime.

“Yeah, I think all that running around after our picnic really wore her out. Really wore me out, too,” Fitz replied, moving behind her and giving her shoulders an affectionate squeeze. “I was actually thinking of turning in early myself. Long day. Care to join me?”

Jemma leaned back in her chair, stretched out her arms, and rested the back of her head against his stomach, “Hmm, that sounds nice. I’ve just got to finish up a few emails and I’ll be right there.”

“Would these few emails have anything to do with that anatomy analysis you’re working on for Daisy that I’m not supposed to know about?” He asked. Without turning to look, Jemma could picture the exact smirk he was wearing as he said it.

“Maybe. But I promise it won’t take me any longer to finish than it took you last week when you were tweaking those cloaking specs for Mack that I’m completely in the dark about,” she tipped her head back to look at him wearing a smirk of her own.

“Ah. Well then, I guess I better leave you to it,” he bent over and kissed her on the forehead, “Don’t work too hard.”

Jemma sighed as he headed back upstairs. Mack was probably right not to tell them any classified stories. Their subterfuge skills seemed to have diminished a bit over the past year. Though, really, they’d never been very good at keeping things from each other in the first place.

Jemma had just finished adding the last of her notes to the analysis when she felt a tell-tale twinge in her temple. She grimaced and rubbed at the spot. It had been such a lovely day, this was really the last thing she was in the mood for.

In the days after D.I.A.N.A had been dissolved and they’d all returned to the original timeline, Jemma had regained almost all of her memories. The only things that had remained a bit of a blur was the time between being put in the mind sharing device with Malick and Fitz carefully attempting to rebuild her memories back on the Zephyr. Initially, she assumed that due to some combination of D.I.A.N.A going into overdrive to protect her memories from Malick and whatever Sybil had injected her with to destroy the implant, her brain had simply found making new memories too difficult at the time. She was infinitely grateful that it had only been a temporary issue.

After about six months back on Earth, she’d soon found that her original hypothesis was incorrect. She’d started getting unusual headaches, they’d start with a dull ache in her temple which quickly ramped up to a brief sharp pain, almost like an ice cream headache, and suddenly she’d remember something from that short period of time she thought had been lost forever.

There was no rhyme or reason to what she’d remember. Sometimes it would be something completely mundane, like walking down a hallway with Daisy and Deke on Sybil’s ship or simply resting her head on Deke’s shoulder while locked in their cell. She’d practically rolled on the floor with laughter when the memory of Deke imitating Fitz had emerged.

The day she regained the memory of the look on Fitz’s face when she’d balked at his attempt to hug her and he realized she didn’t remember him had been terrible. She’d been lucky that Daisy and Agent Sousa had been visiting at the time. They’d taken Alya out for ice cream and a trip to the playground while Jemma spent hours quietly sobbing into Fitz’s chest, apologizing over and over while he’d rubbed her back and shushed her, telling her there was nothing to apologize for, that it wasn’t her fault, that she was brilliant and brave and the best wife and mother in the universe and it was because of her that they were here together, safe and happy now.

Jemma felt the twinge in her temple growing in intensity as she turned off the light in her office and walked into the living room. She moved a few picture books and a stuffed monkey out of the way as she laid down on the couch. On second thought, she grabbed the stuffed monkey and clutched it to her chest anxiously as she waited for the new memory to emerge. She hoped it wouldn’t be a bad one, she’d hate for it to spoil such a lovely day.

She closed her eyes as the pain in her head flared. She was no longer in her living room hugging one of Alya’s little stuffed monkeys. She was standing by the bar in the speakeasy turned S.H.I.E.L.D base, nervously biting her thumb nail as people rushed around her collecting objects and unraveling long electrical cords.

She turned to see Deke moving towards her. He carefully took hold of her arm and guided her to a small alcove, out of the way of the busy crowd. She wasn’t sure exactly how she knew him, but she knew she was very fond of him and that she felt a bit safer with him by her side. Deke stood in front of her and took hold of both her arms, forcing her attention fully on to him.

“Jemma,” he began, “I know this is all really confusing and scary right now. And it’s probably going to get scarier, but I need you to just focus on what I’m saying for a minute.”

Jemma stared at him solemnly, trying to will away the fog in her mind.

Deke took a deep breath, “I know this won’t make sense to you right now, but I’m hoping it will someday, and either way...I just can’t do this without saying a proper goodbye.”

“I just want to say thank you. I know I’m not the easiest person to be around, but you always made me feel welcome. Like I mattered. Like I could be more than just some conniving loser selling people out to survive. Being around you has made me a better person. Has taught me what it’s like to have a real family,” he paused a moment, looking towards the team of people huddled together trying to make sense of various pieces of machinery. He turned back to her and now she saw tears shining in his eyes, “I just wanted to say that I love you, Nana. And I’m so glad I got this time with you. Thank you for everything.”

Deke gently pulled her fully into him, enveloping her in a hug. She carefully put her arms around him in return, confused, but understanding that this was somehow an important moment. Important, but also sad.

“And don’t worry about me. I’m going to be just fine. You know me, I always get by,” he sniffled a little as he pulled away, but he was smiling.

There was a sound of someone clearing their throat nearby. Jemma looked over Deke’s shoulder to see the man in the black jumpsuit standing a short distance behind him. She still couldn’t place him, but she couldn’t help thinking that he was rather handsome. She somehow knew how the stubble on his jaw felt under her fingers.

Deke turned, sheepishly running a hand through his hair, “I was just..uh...”

“She’d uh....she’d want you to know that she loves you, too,” the man in the jumpsuit said. His Scottish accent seemed a little thicker than before and she watched his Adam’s Apple move as he swallowed. “And that she’s proud of you.”

The man paused a moment, looking down, seemingly trying to steel himself for something. He looked up again, his face resolute as he looked Deke in the eye, “And I am, too.”

The two men looked at each other a moment, locked in some kind of silent conversation. Deke walked swiftly over to the man and wrapped his arms around him. The man seemed briefly stunned before returning the hug. After a few seconds the man lightly clapped Deke on the back a few times and the two men separated.

“I’m gonna go...” Deke’s voice trailed off as he pointed in the direction of the group of people still busily connecting and disconnecting wires. He put a hand on the Scottish man’s shoulder, gave one last fleeting look to Jemma, and with a small smile on his face, turned and walked away.

Jemma opened her eyes. She was back on her couch. The little stuffed monkey had fallen to the side, squished between her body and the back of the couch. She breathed deeply for a moment as the pain in her head subsided. She brought a hand to her face, wiping the tears off her cheeks before they could drip down on to the cushion she’d placed under her head.

“Oh, Deke,” she whispered to herself in the stillness of the room.

She found Fitz lying on top of the covers on his side of the bed, reading from a tablet he held in his right hand and casually rolling a coin from knuckle to knuckle with his left. After months of rehabilitation for the injuries he sustained at the bottom of the ocean, he’d taught himself the coin trick after growing tired of his usual dexterity building exercises. _Once an over-achieving prodigy, always an over-achieving prodigy_ , Jemma thought to herself.

He put both the coin and his tablet to the side as Jemma walked in, “Everything alright? You were down there awhile.”

Jemma dropped down onto the bed, crawling over to him rather gracelessly. She plastered herself to his side, wrapping her arms around his middle and snuggling her face into his neck.

Fitz shifted quickly, holding her close and rubbing his hand comfortingly down her back, “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

She turned her head a bit to keep her words from being entirely muffled by his shoulder, “Had another one of my headaches.” She felt Fitz tense slightly.

“Are you alright? Do you need anything? Ibuprofen? Tea?”

“No, no, I’m fine,” Jemma shook her head before resting it back against his shoulder, “This is exactly what I need.”

Fitz dropped a kiss to the top of her head and brought his hand up, burying his fingers in her hair, “So...any more new memories?” he asked cautiously. He knew what a toll they could take on her.

Jemma was quiet a moment, reveling in the feeling of being completely wrapped in her husbands arms. “It was Deke...” she started.

“Oh no,” Fitz interrupted, “please don’t tell me there was more of his terrible excuse for a Scottish accent. He tried it on me once after one Zima too many and it was _painful_.”

Jemma laughed, “No, nothing like that. I just finally remembered him saying goodbye.”

“...Oh,” Fitz tightened his grip around her slightly, “Right. That.”

The sat lost in their own thoughts for a moment.

Jemma broke the silence, “I’m glad I remembered. I’d been upset I hadn’t gotten a chance to say goodbye to him. Turns out I did. Thanks to you.” She lifted herself up a bit to look him in the eye. “Thank you for saying the things I wanted to say when I couldn’t say them myself.”

Fitz blushed slightly, “I’m sure you would have been a bit more eloquent.”

Jemma kissed his cheek, “No. It was perfect,” she lowered herself down to snuggle against him again.

They stayed that way awhile longer and just as Jemma felt herself starting to drift off, Fitz spoke.

“Jemma? You know that cloaking device I was helping Mack with that you definitely didn’t know I was working on?”

“Hmm, I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jemma teased.

“I have a confession. I _did_ help a bit with some cloaking improvements, but once that was done, Mack and I started talking about something else.”

Jemma, feeling much more awake now, sat up fully to face him, “About what?” She asked.

“Well, we know that physical travel through the quantum realm is out, but what if we could still get some audio or visual signals through? We might be able to...”

“...Communicate between timelines!” Jemma finished for him, “Fitz! We could talk to Deke again!”

“ _Maybe_. It’s a big maybe. And we’d have to figure out directing the signal to the correct time so we wouldn’t go messing with timelines again, but...yeah. We could talk to Deke,” he smiled at his wife,  
“There’s still a lot to sort out, you know, it could take awhile, and that’s if we can really do it at all. And then there’s the bigger question.”

“What bigger question?” Jemma’s mind was working a thousand miles a minute, already starting on calculations required for directing a signal through the quantum realm.

“Welll...do we _really_ want to talk to Deke again? I mean... _Deke_?” Fitz wrinkled his nose and puckered his lips in a face usually reserved for times that Jemma brought something dead into the lab they’d built in the basement. Jemma smacked him on the chest and he dropped the act, his face turning into a bright smile as he reached out to bring her back into his grasp.

“We’ll figure it out, Fitz, I know we will,” she said happily, giving him another kiss on the cheek before burrowing back into his arms.

Maybe they really would see Deke again. Sooner rather than later.


End file.
